Daniel Ricciardo Surprises Everyone with Gritty P9 Finish in Austria

In an unexpected turn of events, Daniel Ricciardo clinched a well-earned ninth-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix, marking a rare highlight in what's been a trying season for the Visa Cash App RB team.

The weekend started ominously, as RB's much-anticipated upgrade package had flopped in Spain, leaving both Ricciardo and his teammate Yuki Tsunoda empty-handed from the Sprint race in Austria. Despite these setbacks, hope flickered for Ricciardo when he qualified P11, setting the stage for a gritty climb to ninth on race day. This position was further solidified when his former teammates, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, collided in a dramatic Lap 64 crash, forcing Norris to retire.

"Hard-fought – definitely," said Ricciardo, summarizing his demanding yet rewarding race. “I semi-apologised to Pierre [Hamelin, Ricciardo’s race engineer] after the race. I was like, ‘Sorry, I couldn’t talk much today.’ I was pretty locked in – it took a lot of concentration and effort."

Ricciardo admitted his race strategy focused more on defense than offense. “We did a lot of mirror-watching today, hanging onto the points by the skin of our teeth," he said. However, he was able to gain an advantage on the long stretches with assistance from DRS. “At the end actually, the last few laps I had DRS on [Kevin] Magnussen, so we had a little bit of pace, especially when the tires were getting older,” he added.

“But throughout most of the stint, it felt like we weren’t a very fast car in our group. We were just hanging on.” Ricciardo also credited the team's strategy, including early pit stops and a successful use of hard tires, for the favorable outcome. “We used our two hards to our advantage, pitting early and securing our position against the Alpines.”

The race stands as a momentary reprieve amid swirling rumors within the paddock that Ricciardo's underwhelming 2024 performance could jeopardize his place in the team. Being outscored so far by Tsunoda, many speculate if Ricciardo might fail to complete the season with RB, let alone secure a contract for 2025.

Nevertheless, Ricciardo looks back at his recent races—Canada, Spain, and now Austria—with a sense of accomplishment. “I look back now at the last three – the last three have definitely been better, leaving the Sunday feeling like we’ve got pretty much the most out of it,” he reflected.

Despite acknowledging areas for improvement, Ricciardo seemed content with the overall effort. “There’s always going to be areas that I can do better and improve, but on the whole, we swipe out of the paddock with a smile, feeling like we ticked most boxes, so that’s good.”

Looking forward to Silverstone, Ricciardo remains cautiously optimistic. “Got to keep that up, but it’s a nice feeling to fight and drive a clean race and bring a couple of points home for the team. Deep down we’ll look back at our pace and say maybe we didn’t belong in the points today, but I feel like in some parts we overachieved, and we’ll maybe give ourselves a pat on the back.”